Pre-packaged meal kits which include multiple food items that require a minimal amount of consumer preparation and allow for quick assembly of the food items have become increasingly popular. Generally, a meal kit contains various ready to eat food items to provide an essentially complete meal. Typical food items include farinaceous food products, meat products, cheese, sauces or dips, and dessert items.
The food items may be individually pre-packaged in film wrap, pouches or containers having removable lids. The consistency of certain of these food items is more delicate such that the food items may be easily crushed, crumbled or otherwise deformed. For example, chips may crumble into smaller pieces and breadsticks may be deformed by a heavy item placed on it. It is desirable to arrange the multiple, pre-packaged food items in a container in such a way as to limit movement of the food items during shipping and handling to prevent damage to the food items and improve the visual presentation of the meal kit. It is known to contain the food items in a main tray made of plastic, or other rigid material, and having one or more compartments. Such main trays provide a compact container for the various food items.
To provide a more complete and convenient meal kit, it is desirable to include a beverage with the food items. Packaging the beverage container, which may be larger and heavier than many or all of the food items, in the meal kit may be a problem. If the food items and beverage container are not contained in generally stable positions, the beverage container may damage the food items and may obstruct a consumer's view of the food items in the meal kit container. Thus, it is desirable to isolate the beverage container from the food items. Because of the larger size of the beverage container, it may not be feasible or economical, however, to provide a container having a separate compartment for the beverage container.
Moreover, certain food items, such as pizza crusts, breadsticks and nacho chips, also present packaging problems. These food items may be pre-packaged in larger-sized packages that are essentially as long and/or as wide as the meal kit container itself. As a result, it may be difficult, if not impossible, to utilize a multi-compartment container with such food items and still maintain the desired compact size of the container and overall meal kit.
There remains a need for a compact, compartmentalized packaging system for use with a meal kit that includes multiple, pre-packaged food items and a beverage container.